Tried a black bean soup recipe from Sara Foster tonight (yes, i'm somewhat obsessed with her, and Bittman, and Waters). Overall i thought this didn't have enough kick, and my limes were on steroids clearly (though somehow organic), but still a solid bb soup. Definitely not the thick, guinessy pub version. This is fresh, bright, tangy, but also somewhat hearty. Look at this first step of ingredients:

After cooking 2 cups of dried beans (cooked in 3 inches of water for 45 minutes), i sauteed one diced red onion for about 10 minutes:

Then added in 2 diced carrots, 4 stalks diced celery, 2 diced jalepenos, 1 diced red bell pepper, and sauteed for another 10 minutes or so. I then added 8 gloves of minced garlic for about a minute:

Next i added 8 cups chicken broth (definitely could have been vegetable broth if going vegetarian), 4 bay leaves, a tablespoon of dried basil, teaspoon of salt, and 1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced:

This is it fully in the pot:

After coming to a boil i reduced to simmer and cooked for about an hour or an hour and a half uncovered:

I then took about half of the soup out, and blended it in a food processor, and returned it to the pot along with the juice of 3 gargantuan limes: 

Thickish (but not thick enough... i later went back to my remaining pot of soup after dinner and cooked it on low for another hour or so to reduce and thicken it up. )

Proof, these limes were huge. (I dropped the juiced lime halves in the food processor because i didn't want to get the counter all limey. They didn't go in there for any recipe reason))

The final bowl, topped with chopped cilantro:

In retrospect, i should have realized my limes were enormous and cut it by half. I also think this would have been great with a few slices of avocado and raw red onion on top. We ate it with a few slices of sourdough bread, but it'd be great with some simple cheese quesadillas... maybe heavy on the chipotle for some contrast. I'd definitely make this again with these modifications... but like Lori says, "never doubt Sara Foster." Ya, this was pretty great.